too late for you, but when I ran the tutorial, it pointed at a specific gift- a cake, which I had 3 of. Since this cake doesn't give bonuses to my "Cake" girls, I am guessing it was supposed to be the gift for any starter girl. So your first mistake was picking the wrong gift... and then not trying one of the other gifts, when it asked you to give another gift.

Or else I am wrong, and you followed directions perfectly, and the game messed you up deliberately.